I think 4-5 lessons per week is a fair workload for any horse, especially a lesson horse with maybe that many different riders. if your one lesson horse gets inured or sick, you’re hosed. In today’s times, even if you own your own place, folks need to step up and half-lease, lease, or buy. Horss are just expensive, and it’s an expensive sport.
I’d love to be in any of those scenarios, but most weeks it is a struggle to get to the barn twice. I literally can not fulfill the obligations for the amount of rides and then lessons in a half lease. No way am I going to spend even more on my own horse just to have someone else ride it.
I realize lesson programs are disappearing and I understand why. That said, I am consistent, don’t ever cancel, and pay every week in cash. As a small business owner myself, I’ve come to appreciate “low maintenance” clients that might not be your big fish but are reliable, and send referrals.
I would also be happy to pay that horse maintenance fee mentioned upthread if it helped keep my favorite schoolie (in her 20s) feeling happy and healthy.
If the alternative is mostly standing in a box, I think that 2-3 walk trot lessons is probably good for them to keep moving.
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IME, lesson horses with longevity are a type of horse who can handle the culture of lessons. They are often “in charge” horses who really are the ones doing the riding. They innately have the soundness for the job. They are usually ridden by people who don’t know how to ride/train, so the horses carry themselves in the manner that most suits themselves, . They enjoy the attention of the romantic horselover, and probably like being seen as a little bit intimidating to the family members who have been dragged to the lesson and are reluctant to pet his nose. But most important! is rigorous instruction, which keeps (inadvertent) rough riding to a minimum and safe handling a priority.
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But you aren’t taking into consideration the mental impact that many kiddie/beginner lessons have on horses. Physically the work may not be taxing, but mentally those horses are dealing with beginners who misuse aids, pull too hard, kick, bounce, and don’t steer well. Even with a diligent coach who corrects immediately, beginners and kids ARE going to make mistakes–that’s how they learn. Not everyone is born innately knowing how to ride. A lot people never really progress out of the beginner stage in terms of balance and skill, and those are the types of people to be taking lessons.
THAT is how horses become sour, in my opinion. Too many low level, kiddie lessons in a row with not enough breaks or rides from more experienced riders. There is no way I would ever support a lesson program that has their schoolies going that often (6 hours a day???) because the ARE going to be rank and sour. Riding poorly is mistreatment, to a degree, though as I said, beginners/kids don’t mean to do it, and are in lessons to learn how to be better riders. But subjecting them to that much poor riding is the fault of the instructor/barn owner, not those taking lessons.
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I think we have to keep in mind that horses historically have done far more strenuous and grueling work than they do now. It is only in the current age where horses are just used for our own riding enjoyment that they work so little. Back in the day when horses were our method of transportation, they worked a whole lot harder than 1 hour a day. Even currently, on working ranches, they work harder than 1 hour a day. I’m near the mountains and one of my shoers shoes for some of the tourist trailride barns. Those horses work about 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, though with winters off entirely. Carriage horses work more than 1 hour a day. There are many, many examples of horses that work hard and are happy, healthy and managed properly. And of course there are examples of horses who are unhappy, unhealthy and managed improperly.
Actually, I’d maintain that a properly managed lesson horse doing 2 a days is more ethical than a show horse who works once a day but who gets LTD or drugged to win or kept in a 10x10 temp stall 40 weeks of his life…but I digress.
Managed properly, the proper school horse should be able to do 1-2 lessons or rides per day, 5-6 days per week. They should be well cared for, fit enough to do the job they’re being asked to do, and managed to make sure it’s not too many beginners or too much advanced work that will take physical and mental toll.
When calculating break even, be careful to not eliminate the cost of the instructor’s time (even if it’s your own) in your calculations.
If your lesson horse costs you $1000 per month and is doing $1000 of lessons, he is only covering his own cost and there is no $$ left over to pay the instructor and then for profit.
You should back out the instructor cost and profit out of the price of the lesson to see what truly goes towards the care of the horse and then that will tell you how many lessons the horse needs to do to cover his cost, pay the instructor and generate profit.
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Our lesson horses do up to 3 w/t lessons a day with minimum one day off a week (sometimes more if they just don’t end up being used). They also get at least one schooling ride by a trainer per week. Lol for me this usually involves taking them out to the field and letting them canter around on a loose rein and be fresh if they want. Horses that jump do less. they get amazing care and are super happy and sweet. 20 minutes of the hour of our beginner lessons are dedicated to proper grooming and tacking and especially for the little kids at least 10 minutes is walking around the barn. So ultimately our lesson horses that go 3 times a day usually end up trotting for like 5 minutes tops/hour. Even little kids that kick or yank are super weak, the horses don’t even seem to notice half the time lol. The horses never seem tired or sour lol they even get fresh occasionally.
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How many clients total take lessons on the schoolies and how many horses are there? Many smaller operations and trainers still building their business don’t have a consistently deep enough client pool to support 18 lessons a week per school horse.
Also need to mention in alot if these big lesson mill barns, not everybody knows exactly what happens unless they are at the barn 24/7. People tend to assume things based on their observations when they are there and the barn grapevine. Not necessarily the rest of the story that is not openly shared. Not saying it’s anything nefarious at all here, just saying things go on that are need to know only.
This thread is so much why horse business do not really run as business. Someone upthread said well the board is X and the REAL cost is probably X less a couple hundred dollars…
We all KNOW there is NO MONEY in boarding, so even if you think the the hard cost is less then the board rate you have to factor that that horse is taking the place of a paying client. So you are loosing money even if you aren’t bleeding the money. It’s simple math.
If your lesson horse isn’t bringing money in to cover that stall EXACTLY LIKE a paying client, you are loosing income!
All that said, I do have a lesson horse and pony. They are in stalls and I am loosing money on them. But they are a gateway for new clients to get into horses. I think of them as marketing expense… but I never delude myself that I make money on them… and I completely realize that I am enabling people to ride.
My business looks at the lesson horse side as a marketing expense not as a riding expense. If the marketing is failing, I remove the horse from my business. If it’s successful, I add more horses. But adding a lesson horse in as income is a mistake because you can’t teach on them or charge enough to cover costs and make a profit.
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